Deactivation method and apparatus for a secondary cell and communications system

ABSTRACT

A deactivation method and apparatus for a secondary cell and a communications system. The deactivation method includes: restarting a deactivation timer associated with a first SCell carrying a PUCCH, in a case where a deactivation timer is restarted or a channel quality indicator report is transmitted in any second SCell in a secondary PUCCH cell group. Hence, a case will not occur where understanding of an activation state of a secondary cell by a UE and a base station is inconsistent due to an UE autonomous deactivation mechanism.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of InternationalApplication PCT/CN2015/075971 filed on Apr. 7, 2015, the entire contentsof which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, andin particular to a deactivation method and an apparatus for a secondarycell and a communications system.

BACKGROUND

Currently, when a user equipment (UE) needs and has an ability ofcarrier aggregation (CA), a base station considers the ability of CA ofthe UE and selects available carriers for the UE, and configures a cellas a secondary cell (SCell) of the UE via a radio resource control (RRC)message.

For the sake of punctuality, if it is deemed that the configured SCellmay immediately be used for data transmission, then the SCell needs tobe cancelled, and the UE does not use resource of the SCell to transmitdata any longer when the SCell is not used considering the resourceefficiency; and when the cell is again needed for data transmission, thecell is again needed to be configured as an SCell via an RRC message.

When a type of traffic occurring frequently of a short duration and alarge traffic amount is taken into account, frequentlyconfiguring/de-configuring an SCell in such a way will consume a largeamount of RRC messages; and at the same time, punctuality of an RRCmessage is relatively poor, and if an SCell is configured via an RRCmessage when needed, it is possible that timeliness of such a trafficcannot be satisfied. On the contrary, if the cell is always taken as anSCell so as to save RRC messages and ensure timeliness of a traffic,even if there exists no traffic for transmission, resources cannot befully used, spectral utilization is low, and a throughput of the celldrops therewith.

Thus, a new state is introduced for an SCell: an activation state or adeactivation state. UE only monitors an activated SCell, and transmitsdata only in the activated SCell. When a base station configures CA UEwith an available SCell, both the base station and the UE default thatthe SCell is in a deactivation state. When needed, the base station setsthe SCell to be in an activation state via an activation media accesscontrol (MAC) control element (CE); otherwise, the base station sets theSCell to be in a deactivation state via a deactivation MAC CE.

In some cases, it is possible that a transmission failure of adeactivation MAC CE deactivating an SCell occurs, hence, the basestation will deem that the SCell is in a deactivation state, and the UEwill deem that the SCell is in an activation state; and the UE mayperform autonomous uplink transmission, such as a sounding referencesignal (SRS), on the SCell; which may pose interference on other uplinktransmission, and is disadvantageous to energy-saving. Therefore, an UEautonomous deactivation mechanism is introduced.

That is, in order to unify the state of an SCell activation/deactivationby the UE and the base station, an UE autonomous deactivation mechanismis introduced, namely, a deactivation timer is maintained for eachSCell. When a base station activates an SCell via an activation MAC CE,both the base station and the UE deem that the SCell is activated, andstart a deactivation timer for the SCell; and when a deactivation MAC CEis successfully transmitted or the deactivation timer associated withthe SCell expires, both the UE and the base station deem that the SCellis deactivated.

If a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) indicating an uplinkgrant or downlink assignment is received in the activated SCell, or aPDCCH scheduling the SCell, including an uplink grant and downlinkassignment, is received in another serving cell, the UE restarts thedeactivation timer associated with the SCell.

Based on a demand of the UE for traffics, if an SCell is not neededtemporarily, the base station may deactivate the SCell; and even if theUE does not receive a deactivation MAC CE, only if the base station doesnot schedule the SCell and not transmit a PDCCH in the SCell within aperiod of time, and the SCell can be autonomously deactivated by the UEvia the deactivation timer.

Based on the UE autonomous deactivation mechanism, the activation stateof the SCell of the CA UE may be appropriately maintained. Although boththe base station and the UE maintain a deactivation timer for eachSCell, values of these timers are identical, which may be provided bythe base station via the RRC message, and the default value of thetimers is an infinite value.

On the other hand, in an existing LTE system, for CA UE, only a primarycell (PCell) is configured with one or more physical uplink controlchannels (PUCCHs), and almost all uplink control information (UCI) inall cells is transmitted to a base station (such as an eNB) via thePUCCHs of the PCell.

As occurrence of a demand for new traffics, the number of downlinkcarriers of CA becomes larger and larger, and the number of UE(including CA UE and non-CA UE) becomes larger and larger, problems willoccur when UCI is only transmitted in a PCell. In order to offload fortransmitting UCI, in addition to transmitting PUCCHs in the PCell, abase station may further select an SCell for UE having an ability of ULCA, which is used for transmitting PUCCHs. Thus, UCI related to thePCell is transmitted in the PCell, UCI of an SCell carrying PUCCHs istransmitted in the SCell, and UCI of other SCells is configured by thebase station to be transmitted in the PCell or is configured to betransmitted in the SCell carrying PUCCHs.

That is, in a current CA, there exist two serving cells carrying PUCCHs,one is the PCell, and the other is the SCell carrying PUCCHs. The PCelland all normal SCells whose UCI is transmitted via the PUCCHs of thePCell constitute a primary PUCCH cell group, and the SCell carryingPUCCHs and all normal SCells whose UCI is transmitted via the PUCCHs ofthe SCell constitute a secondary PUCCH cell group. The primary PUCCHcell group and secondary PUCCH cell group are collectively referred toas a PUCCH cell group.

It should be appreciated that the above description of the background ismerely provided for clear and complete explanation of this disclosureand for easy understanding by those skilled in the art. And it shouldnot be understood that the above technical solution is known to thoseskilled in the art as it is described in the background of thisdisclosure.

SUMMARY

However, it was found by the inventors that in some cases, the basestation deems that the SCell carrying PUCCHs (a first SCell) isactivated, and the UE deems that the SCell (the first SCell) isdeactivated, in which cases even though there exists another normalSCell (a second SCell) associated with the PUCCHs in the SCell (thefirst SCell) and the base station schedule the SCell (the second SCell),downlink transmission of the SCell (the second SCell) cannot beoperated, as transmitting uplink feedback of the SCell (the secondSCell) needs to use PUCCHs, while the SCell carrying the PUCCHs (thefirst SCell) has been processed by the UE by taking it as a deactivatedSCell, which is unable to transmit PUCCHs.

Embodiments of this disclosure provide a deactivation method andapparatus for a secondary cell and a communications system, used forsolving a problem that understanding of an activation state of asecondary cell by the UE and the base station is inconsistent due to theUE autonomous deactivation mechanism.

According to a first aspect of the embodiments of this disclosure, thereis provided a deactivation method for a secondary cell, applicable to aUE, the UE being configured with a first SCell carrying a PUCCH and asecond SCell carrying no PUCCH, the first SCell and one or more secondSCells transmitting uplink control information via the PUCCHconstituting a secondary PUCCH cell group;

the deactivation method includes:

restarting a deactivation timer associated with the first SCell carryingthe PUCCH, in a case where a deactivation timer is restarted or achannel quality indicator report is transmitted in any second SCell inthe secondary PUCCH cell group.

According to a second aspect of the embodiments of this disclosure,there is provided a deactivation apparatus for a secondary cell,configured in a UE, the UE being configured with a first SCell carryinga physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and a second SCell carrying noPUCCH, the first SCell and one or more second SCells transmitting uplinkcontrol information via the PUCCH constituting a secondary PUCCH cellgroup;

the deactivation apparatus includes:

a restarting unit configured to restart a deactivation timer associatedwith the first SCell carrying the PUCCH, in a case where a deactivationtimer is restarted or a channel quality indicator report is transmittedin any second SCell in the secondary PUCCH cell group.

According to a third aspect of the embodiments of this disclosure, thereis provided a deactivation method for a secondary cell, applicable to aUE, the UE being configured with a first SCell carrying a PUCCH and asecond SCell carrying no PUCCH;

the deactivation method includes:

configuring the first SCell carrying the PUCCH as not operating adeactivation timer, or configuring a value of a deactivation timer ofthe first SCell as being greater than a value of a deactivation timer ofthe second SCell.

According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of this disclosure,there is provided a deactivation apparatus for a secondary cell,configured in a UE, the UE being configured with a first SCell carryinga PUCCH and a second SCell carrying no PUCCH;

the deactivation apparatus includes:

a configuring unit configured to configure the first SCell carrying thePUCCH as not operating a deactivation timer, or configure a value of adeactivation timer of the first SCell as being greater than a value of adeactivation timer of the second SCell.

According to a fifth aspect of the embodiments of this disclosure, thereis provided a deactivation method for a secondary cell, applicable to aUE, the UE being configured with a first SCell carrying a PUCCH and asecond SCell carrying no PUCCH, the first SCell and one or more secondSCells transmitting uplink control information via the PUCCH of thefirst SCell constituting a secondary PUCCH cell group; the UE beingfurther configured with a primary cell (PCell) carrying a PUCCH, thePCell and one or more second SCells transmitting uplink controlinformation via the PUCCH of the PCell constituting a primary PUCCH cellgroup;

the deactivation method includes:

configuring the secondary PUCCH cell group with a secondary cell groupdeactivation timer; and

restarting the secondary cell group deactivation timer in a case whereany SCell of the secondary PUCCH cell group satisfies a timer restartcondition.

According to a sixth aspect of the embodiments of this disclosure, thereis provided a deactivation apparatus for a secondary cell, configured ina UE, the UE being configured with a first SCell carrying a PUCCH and asecond SCell carrying no PUCCH, the first SCell and one or more secondSCells transmitting uplink control information via the PUCCH of thefirst SCell constituting a secondary PUCCH cell group; the UE beingfurther configured with a primary cell (PCell) carrying a PUCCH, thePCell and one or more second SCells transmitting uplink controlinformation via the PUCCH of the PCell constituting a primary PUCCH cellgroup;

the deactivation apparatus includes:

a configuring unit configured to configure the secondary PUCCH cellgroup with a secondary cell group deactivation timer; and

a restarting unit configured to restart the secondary cell groupdeactivation timer in a case where any SCell of the secondary PUCCH cellgroup satisfies a timer restart condition.

According to a seventh aspect of the embodiments of this disclosure,there is provided a communications system, including:

a UE configured with a first SCell carrying a PUCCH and a second SCellcarrying no PUCCH, the first SCell and one or more second SCellstransmitting uplink control information via the PUCCH of the first SCellconstituting a secondary PUCCH cell group; the UE being furtherconfigured with a PCell carrying a PUCCH, the PCell and one or moresecond SCells transmitting uplink control information via the PUCCH ofthe PCell constituting a primary PUCCH cell group;

the UE is configured to restart a deactivation timer associated with thefirst SCell carrying the PUCCH, in a case where a deactivation timer isrestarted or a channel quality indicator report is transmitted in anysecond SCell in the secondary PUCCH cell group;

or, the UE is configured to configure the first SCell carrying the PUCCHas not operating a deactivation timer, or configure a value of adeactivation timer of the first SCell as being greater than a value of adeactivation timer of the second SCell;

or, the UE is configured to configure the secondary PUCCH cell groupwith a secondary cell group deactivation timer; and restart thesecondary cell group deactivation timer in a case where any SCell of thesecondary PUCCH cell group satisfies a timer restart condition.

According to another aspect of the embodiments of this disclosure, thereis provided a computer readable program code, which, when executed in aUE, will cause a computer unit to carry out the deactivation method fora secondary cell as described above in the UE.

According to a further aspect of the embodiments of this disclosure,there is provided a computer readable medium, including a computerreadable program code, which will cause a computer unit to carry out thedeactivation method for a secondary cell as described above in a UE.

An advantage of the embodiments of this disclosure exists in that a newdeactivation timer restart triggering mechanism is introduced for anSCell carrying PUCCHs, or an UE autonomous deactivation mechanism is notconfigured for an SCell carrying PUCCHs, or a new deactivation timermechanism is introduced for a secondary PUCCH cell group. Hence, a casewill not occur where understanding of an activation state of a secondarycell by the UE and the base station is inconsistent due to the UEautonomous deactivation mechanism.

With reference to the following description and drawings, the particularembodiments of this disclosure are disclosed in detail, and theprinciple of this disclosure and the manners of use are indicated. Itshould be understood that the scope of the embodiments of thisdisclosure is not limited thereto. The embodiments of this disclosurecontain many alternations, modifications and equivalents within thescope of the terms of the appended claims.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to oneembodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one ormore other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of thefeatures of the other embodiments.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprise/include” when used inthis specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features,integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components orgroups thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the disclosure can be better understood with referenceto the following drawings. The components in the drawings are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearlyillustrating the principles of this disclosure. To facilitateillustrating and describing some parts of the disclosure, correspondingportions of the drawings may be exaggerated or reduced.

Elements and features depicted in one drawing or embodiment of thedisclosure may be combined with elements and features depicted in one ormore additional drawings or embodiments. Moreover, in the drawings, likereference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the severalviews and may be used to designate like or similar parts in more thanone embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example of a scenario of anembodiment of this disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the deactivation method of Embodiment 1 of thisdisclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the deactivation apparatus ofEmbodiment 2 of this disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the deactivation method of Embodiment 3 of thisdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the deactivation apparatus ofEmbodiment 4 of this disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the deactivation method of Embodiment 5 of thisdisclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the deactivation apparatus ofEmbodiment 6 of this disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the UE of Embodiment 7 of thisdisclosure; and

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the communications system of Embodiment8 of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

These and further aspects and features of the present disclosure will beapparent with reference to the following description and attacheddrawings. In the description and drawings, particular embodiments of thedisclosure have been disclosed in detail as being indicative of some ofthe ways in which the principles of the disclosure may be employed, butit is understood that the disclosure is not limited correspondingly inscope. Rather, the disclosure includes all changes, modifications andequivalents coming within the terms of the appended claims.

An example of a scenario is given below to describe a case where thefollowing problem will occur: “a base station deems that an SCellcarrying one or more PUCCHs is in an activated state, while UE deemsthat the SCell is in a deactivated state”.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the example of the scenario of anembodiment of this disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, within a transmissiontime interval (TTI), a base station schedules SCell 1 or schedules otherSCells in a cross-carrier manner by transmitting a PDCCH in SCell 1.However, the transmission of the PDCCH fails, and a UE does not receivethe PDCCH. Hence, only the base station restarts a deactivation timerassociated with SCell 1, and the UE does not restart the timer.

For example, at a t1 moment, the base station deems that both SCell 1and SCell 2 are in an activated state, and both their deactivationtimers are running; while the UE deems that SCell 1 is deactivated, T1expires, and at the same time, SCell 2 is in the activated state, and T2still is running.

In such a case, the base station may schedule SCell 1/SCell 2 totransmit downlink data. In a case of self-scheduling, the base stationfails in scheduling SCell 1 in a self-scheduling manner via SCell 1,since the UE deems that SCell 1 is deactivated at this moment, and doesnot monitor SCell 1. Furthermore, the base station may transmit downlinkassignment via a PDCCH of SCell 2 to schedule SCell 2 to performdownlink transmission; however, it cannot operate normally, as feedbackof downlink data transmitted in the SCell needs to be transmitted in aPUCCH in SCell 1, and it is commonly known that a deactivated SCellcannot transmit UCI. For the cross-carrier scheduling, the base stationfails in scheduling SCell 2 in a cross-carrier manner via SCell 1, asthe UE does not monitor SCell 1 which is deemed by the UE as beingdeactivated at this moment; or scheduling SCell 1 by the base station ina cross-carrier manner via SCell 2 still cannot be achieved, as the UEdeems that SCell 1 is deactivated at this moment.

Such a problem also exists actually in CA of previous versions; however,as only a single SCell is concerned, and transmission of other SCells isnot affected, the base station may await to detect, find and process byitself. While after the PUCCH in the SCell is introduced, if such aproblem occurs in the SCell carrying the PUCCH, besides this SCell,downlinks of all SCells performing transmission of uplink controlinformation via the PUCCH of the SCell cannot operate, and this isserious degradation of quality. Therefore, such a problem needs to besolved.

Embodiment 1

An embodiment of this disclosure provides a deactivation method for asecondary cell, applicable to a UE, the UE being configured with a firstSCell carrying a PUCCH and a second SCell carrying no PUCCH, the firstSCell and one or more second SCells transmitting uplink controlinformation via the PUCCH constituting a secondary PUCCH cell group.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the deactivation method of the embodiment ofthis disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the deactivation method includes:

step 201: the UE determines that in any second SCell in the secondaryPUCCH cell group, a deactivation timer is restarted or a channel qualityindicator report is transmitted; and

step 202: the UE restarts a deactivation timer associated with the firstSCell carrying the PUCCH.

In this embodiment, a new triggering mechanism to restart thedeactivation timer may be introduced for an SCell carrying the PUCCH (afirst SCell).

In an implementation, in a case where a deactivation timer of any secondSCell in the secondary PUCCH cell group is restarted, the UE restartsthe deactivation timer associated with the first SCell carrying thePUCCH.

For example, the UE may determine that a PDCCH indicating an uplinkgrant or downlink assignment is received in the any second SCell, or aPDCCH scheduling the any second SCell and indicating an uplink grant ordownlink assignment is received in another serving cell, in which cases,a deactivation timer of the any second SCell is restarted, and adeactivation timer associated with the first SCell carrying the PUCCH isrestarted.

In another implementation, in a case where a channel quality indicator(CQI) report of any second SCell in the secondary PUCCH cell group istransmitted, the UE restarts the deactivation timer associated with thefirst SCell carrying the PUCCH.

For example, the UE may determine that a PDCCH indicating an uplinkgrant or downlink assignment is received in the any second SCell, or aPDCCH scheduling the any second SCell and indicating an uplink grant ordownlink assignment is received in another serving cell, or whether theany second SCell transmits a CQI report, in which cases, a deactivationtimer associated with the first SCell carrying the PUCCH is restarted.

Thus, if the deactivation timer of the any second SCell in the secondaryPUCCH cell group is restarted, or the CQI report is transmitted, thedeactivation timer associated with the SCell carrying the PUCCH is alsorestarted, and a case where downlink transmission of a normal SCellcannot operate will not occur. Such a scheme may ensure that a CAperformance is at least identical to previous ones after the PUCCH inthe SCell is introduced.

It can be seen from the above embodiment that a new triggering mechanismto restart the deactivation timer is introduced for an SCell carryingone or more PUCCHs, hence, a case will not occur where understanding ofan activation state of a secondary cell by the UE and the base stationis inconsistent due to the UE autonomous deactivation mechanism.

Embodiment 2

An embodiment of this disclosure provides a deactivation apparatus foran SCell, configured in a UE. The embodiment of this disclosurecorresponds to the deactivation method of Embodiment 1, with identicalcontents being not going to be described herein any further.

In this embodiment, the UE is configured with a first SCell carrying aPUCCH and a second SCell carrying no PUCCH, the first SCell and one ormore second SCells transmitting uplink control information via the PUCCHconstituting a secondary PUCCH cell group.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the deactivation apparatus of theembodiment of this disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the deactivationapparatus 300 includes:

a restarting unit 301 configured to restart a deactivation timerassociated with the first SCell carrying the PUCCH, in a case where adeactivation timer is restarted or a channel quality indicator report istransmitted in any second SCell in the secondary PUCCH cell group.

As shown in FIG. 3, the deactivation apparatus 300 may further include:

a determining unit 302 configured to determine whether a PDCCHindicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment is received in the anysecond SCell, or whether a PDCCH scheduling the any second SCell andindicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment is received in anotherserving cell.

In an implementation, the determining unit 302 may configured todetermine that a PDCCH indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignmentis received in the any second SCell, or a PDCCH scheduling the anysecond SCell and indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment isreceived in another serving cell. The restarting unit 301 may configuredto restart a deactivation timer of the any second SCell, and restart adeactivation timer associated with the first SCell carrying the PUCCH.

In another implementation, the determining unit 302 may configured todetermine that a PDCCH indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignmentis received in the any second SCell, or a PDCCH scheduling the anysecond SCell and indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment isreceived in another serving cell, or the any second SCell transmits aCQI report. The restarting unit 301 may configured to restart adeactivation timer associated with the first SCell carrying the PUCCH.

It can be seen from the above embodiment that a new triggering mechanismto restart the deactivation timer is introduced for an SCell carryingone or more PUCCHs, hence, a case will not occur where understanding ofan activation state of a secondary cell by the UE and the base stationis inconsistent due to the UE autonomous deactivation mechanism.

Embodiment 3

An embodiment of this disclosure provides a deactivation method for asecondary cell, applicable to UE, the UE being configured with a firstSCell carrying a PUCCH and a second SCell carrying no PUCCH.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the deactivation method of the embodiment ofthis disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the method includes:

step 401: the UE configures the first SCell carrying a PUCCH as notoperating a deactivation timer, or configures a value of a deactivationtimer of the first SCell as being greater than a value of a deactivationtimer of the second SCell.

In this embodiment, an UE autonomous deactivation mechanism may not beconfigured for the SCell carrying PUCCHs.

In an implementation, the UE does not operate a deactivation timer forthe first SCell carrying a PUCCH, and starts a deactivation timer forthe second SCell carrying no PUCCH.

In another implementation, the UE configures the value of thedeactivation timer of the first SCell as being greater than the value ofthe deactivation timer of the second SCell. For example, the value ofthe deactivation timer of the first SCell may be configured as beingmuch greater than the value of the deactivation timer of the secondSCell, such as being infinite.

That is, different values of deactivation timers may be introduced fordifferent SCells; for example, a value of a deactivation timer of anSCell carrying a PUCCH may be set to be, for example, infinite, and inorder to reuse an existing mechanism as possible, values of other normalSCells carrying no PUCCH may be set to be identical. Hence, the value ofthe timer configured by the base station is only applicable to an normalSCell carrying no PUCCH.

When an SCell is activated, a deactivation timer is started. If theSCell is an SCell carrying a PUCCH, a default value being infinite isused; otherwise, the SCell is a normal SCell carrying no PUCCH, and avalue of timer configured by the base station is used according to anexisting mechanism, and if a value of timer is not configured by thebase station, a default value being infinite is used.

However, this disclosure is not limited to setting the value of thedeactivation timer of the first SCell as being infinite, and it may alsobe that the value of the deactivation timer of the first SCell is set tobe much greater than the value of the deactivation timer of the secondSCell. For example, the value of the deactivation timer of the firstSCell may be set to be a maximum value that the timer has, etc. And aparticular value may be set according to an actual situation.

In this embodiment, as the SCell carrying a PUCCH can only bedeactivated by a deactivating medium access control (MAC) controlelement (CE), the above technical problem that “a base station deemsthat the SCell is in an activated state, while a UE deems that the SCellis in a deactivated state” will not occur.

It can be seen from the above embodiment that an UE autonomousdeactivation mechanism is not configured for an SCell carrying one ormore PUCCHs, hence, a case will not occur where understanding of anactivation state of a secondary cell by the UE and the base station isinconsistent due to the UE autonomous deactivation mechanism.

Embodiment 4

An embodiment of this disclosure provides a deactivation apparatus foran SCell, configured in a UE. The embodiment of this disclosurecorresponds to the deactivation method of Embodiment 3, with identicalcontents being not going to be described herein any further.

In this embodiment, the UE is configured with a first SCell carrying aPUCCH and a second SCell carrying no PUCCH.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the deactivation apparatus of theembodiment of this disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5, the deactivationapparatus 500 includes:

a configuring unit 501 configured to configure the first SCell carryinga PUCCH as not operating a deactivation timer, or configure a value of adeactivation timer of the first SCell as being greater than a value of adeactivation timer of the second SCell.

In an implementation, the configuring unit 501 may configure the firstSCell carrying a PUCCH as not operating a deactivation timer, andconfigure the second SCell carrying no PUCCH as operating a deactivationtimer.

In another implementation, the configuring unit 501 may configure thevalue of the deactivation timer of the first SCell as being greater thanthe value of the deactivation timer of the second SCell. For example,the configuring unit 501 may configure the value of the deactivationtimer of the first SCell as being infinite.

In this embodiment, the SCell carrying a PUCCH may only be deactivatedby a deactivating MAC CE.

It can be seen from the above embodiment that an UE autonomousdeactivation mechanism is not configured for an SCell carrying PUCCHs,hence, a case will not occur where understanding of an activation stateof a secondary cell by the UE and the base station is inconsistent dueto the UE autonomous deactivation mechanism.

Embodiment 5

An embodiment of this disclosure provides a deactivation method for asecondary cell, applicable to a UE, the UE being configured with a firstSCell carrying a PUCCH and a second SCell carrying no PUCCH, the firstSCell and one or more second SCells transmitting uplink controlinformation via the PUCCH of the first SCell constituting a secondaryPUCCH cell group;

the UE being further configured with a PCell carrying a PUCCH, the PCelland one or more second SCells transmitting uplink control informationvia the PUCCH of the PCell constituting a primary PUCCH cell group.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the deactivation method of the embodiment ofthis disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, the method includes:

step 601: the UE configures the secondary PUCCH cell group with asecondary cell group deactivation timer; and

step 602: the UE restarts the secondary cell group deactivation timer ina case where any SCell of the secondary PUCCH cell group satisfies atimer restart condition.

In this embodiment, a deactivation timer mechanism based on a PUCCH cellgroup is introduced.

In an implementation, the UE may further configure the primary PUCCHcell group with a primary cell group deactivation timer, and restartsthe primary cell group deactivation timer in a case where any SCell ofthe primary PUCCH cell group satisfies a timer restart condition.

That is, in this implementation, only two deactivation timers aremaintained for each UE, and each PUCCH cell group is respectivelyconfigured with a deactivation timer. Of course, for the primary PUCCHcell group, the deactivation timer is only applicable to one or moreSCells, but is not applicable to the PCell. And a deactivation timer ofa group is restarted only if any cell in the group satisfies the timerrestart condition.

For example, if a PDCCH indicating an uplink grant or downlinkassignment is received in the any SCell of the secondary PUCCH cellgroup, or a PDCCH scheduling the any SCell and indicating an uplinkgrant or downlink assignment is received in another serving cell, thedeactivation timer of the secondary cell group is restarted.

If a PDCCH indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment is receivedin the any SCell of the primary PUCCH cell group, or a PDCCH schedulingthe any SCell and indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment isreceived in another serving cell, the deactivation timer of the primarycell group is restarted.

In this implementation, when a cross-carrier scheduling crossing thePUCCH cell groups occurs, two deactivation timers may be restarted atthe same time. Similar to an existing mechanism, values of the twodeactivation timers here may be configured by the base station, and maybe identical.

In another implementation, for the secondary PUCCH cell group only, adeactivation timer based on the secondary PUCCH cell group ismaintained. And for the primary PUCCH cell group, based on an existingmechanism, a deactivation timer based on an SCell is still maintained.

For example, if a PDCCH indicating an uplink grant or downlinkassignment is received in the any SCell of the secondary PUCCH cellgroup, or a PDCCH scheduling the any SCell and indicating an uplinkgrant or downlink assignment is received in another serving cell, thedeactivation timer of the secondary cell group is restarted.

If a PDCCH indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment is receivedin the any SCell of the primary PUCCH cell group, or a PDCCH schedulingthe any SCell and indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment isreceived in another serving cell, the deactivation timer of the anySCell is restarted.

In this implementation, similar to an existing mechanism, values of themultiple deactivation timers here may be configured by the base station,and may be identical.

It can be seen from the above embodiment that a new deactivation timermechanism is introduced for the PUCCH cell group, hence, a case will notoccur where understanding of an activation state of a secondary cell bythe UE and the base station is inconsistent due to the UE autonomousdeactivation mechanism.

Embodiment 6

An embodiment of this disclosure provides a deactivation apparatus foran SCell, configured in a UE. The embodiment of this disclosurecorresponds to the deactivation method of Embodiment 5, with identicalcontents being not going to be described herein any further.

In this embodiment, the UE is configured with a first SCell carrying aPUCCH and a second SCell carrying no PUCCH, the first SCell and one ormore second SCells transmitting uplink control information via the PUCCHof the first SCell constituting a secondary PUCCH cell group; the UEbeing further configured with a PCell carrying a PUCCH, the PCell andone or more second SCells transmitting uplink control information viathe PUCCH of the PCell constituting a primary PUCCH cell group.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the deactivation apparatus of theembodiment of this disclosure. As shown in FIG. 7, the deactivationapparatus 700 includes:

a configuring unit 701 configured to configure the secondary PUCCH cellgroup with a secondary cell group deactivation timer; and

a restarting unit 702 configured to restart the secondary cell groupdeactivation timer in a case where any SCell of the secondary PUCCH cellgroup satisfies a timer restart condition.

In an implementation, as shown in FIG. 7, the deactivation apparatus 700may further include:

a determining unit 703 configured to determine whether a PDCCHindicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment is received in the anySCell of the secondary PUCCH cell group, or whether a PDCCH schedulingthe any SCell and indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment isreceived in another serving cell.

And the restarting unit 702 is further configured to restart thesecondary cell group deactivation timer in a case where the PDCCHindicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment is received in the anySCell of the secondary PUCCH cell group, or the PDCCH scheduling the anySCell and indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment is receivedin another serving cell.

In another implementation, the configuring unit 701 is furtherconfigured to configure the primary PUCCH cell group with a primary cellgroup deactivation timer. And the deactivation apparatus 700 may furtherinclude:

the determining unit 703 configured to determine whether a PDCCHindicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment is received in the anySCell of the secondary PUCCH cell group, or whether a PDCCH schedulingthe any SCell and indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment isreceived in another serving cell; and to determine whether a PDCCHindicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment is received in the anySCell of the primary PUCCH cell group, or whether a PDCCH scheduling theany SCell and indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment isreceived in another serving cell.

And the restarting unit 702 is further configured to restart thesecondary cell group deactivation timer when a PDCCH indicating anuplink grant or downlink assignment is received in the any SCell of thesecondary PUCCH cell group, or a PDCCH scheduling the any SCell andindicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment is received in anotherserving cell; and to restart the primary cell group deactivation timerwhen a PDCCH indicating an uplink grant or downlink assignment isreceived in the any SCell of the primary PUCCH cell group, or a PDCCHscheduling the any SCell and indicating an uplink grant or downlinkassignment is received in another serving cell.

It can be seen from the above embodiment that a new deactivation timermechanism is introduced for the PUCCH cell group, hence, a case will notoccur where understanding of an activation state of a secondary cell bythe UE and the base station is inconsistent due to the UE autonomousdeactivation mechanism.

Embodiment 7

An embodiment of this disclosure provides a UE, configured with theabove-described deactivation apparatus 300, or 500, or 700.

In this embodiment, the UE is configured with a first SCell carrying aPUCCH and a second SCell carrying no PUCCH, the first SCell and one ormore second SCells transmitting uplink control information via the PUCCHconstituting a secondary PUCCH cell group; and the UE is furtherconfigured with a PCell carrying a PUCCH, the PCell and one or moresecond SCells transmitting uplink control information via the PUCCH ofthe PCell constituting a primary PUCCH cell group.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the UE of the embodiment of thisdisclosure. As shown in FIG. 8, the UE 800 may include a centralprocessing unit (CPU) 100 and a memory 140, the memory 140 being coupledto the central processing unit 100. It should be noted that this figureis illustrative only, and other types of structures may also be used, soas to supplement or replace this structure and achieve atelecommunications function or other functions.

In an implementation, the functions of the deactivation apparatus 300,or 500, or 700, may be integrated into the central processing unit 100.The central processing unit 100 may be configured to perform followingcontrol: restart a deactivation timer associated with the first SCellcarrying the PUCCH, in a case where a deactivation timer is restarted ora channel quality indicator report is transmitted in any second SCell inthe secondary PUCCH cell group;

or, configure the first SCell carrying a PUCCH as not operating adeactivation timer, or configure a value of a deactivation timer of thefirst SCell as being greater than a value of a deactivation timer of thesecond SCell;

or, configure the secondary PUCCH cell group with a secondary cell groupdeactivation timer; and restart the secondary cell group deactivationtimer in a case where any SCell of the secondary PUCCH cell groupsatisfies a timer restart condition.

In another implementation, the deactivation apparatus 300, or 500, or700 and the central processing unit 100 may be configured separately.For example, the deactivation apparatus 300, or 500, or 700, may beconfigured as a chip connected to the central processing unit 100, withits functions being realized under control of the central processingunit 100.

As shown in FIG. 8, the UE 800 may further include a communicationmodule 110, an input unit 120, an audio processor 130, a memory 140, acamera 150, a display 160 and a power supply 170. Functions of the abovecomponents are similar to those in the relevant art, and shall not bedescribed herein any further. It should be noted that the UE 800 doesnot necessarily include all the parts shown in FIG. 8, and furthermore,the UE 800 may include parts not shown in FIG. 8, and the relevant artmay be referred to.

It can be seen from the above embodiment that a new deactivation timerrestart triggering mechanism is introduced for an SCell carrying one ormore PUCCHs, or an UE autonomous deactivation mechanism is notconfigured for an SCell carrying one or more PUCCHs, or a newdeactivation timer mechanism is introduced for a secondary PUCCH cellgroup. Hence, a case will not occur where understanding of an activationstate of a secondary cell by the UE and the base station is inconsistentdue to the UE autonomous deactivation mechanism.

Embodiment 8

An embodiment of this disclosure provides a communications system, withcontents identical to those in embodiments 1-7 being not going to bedescribed herein any further. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of thecommunications system of the embodiment of this disclosure. As shown inFIG. 9, the communications system 900 includes a base station 901 and aUE 902.

The UE 902 is configured with a first SCell carrying a PUCCH and asecond SCell carrying no PUCCH, the first SCell and one or more secondSCells transmitting uplink control information via the PUCCH of thefirst SCell constituting a secondary PUCCH cell group; and the UE 902 isfurther configured with a PCell carrying a PUCCH, the PCell and one ormore second SCells transmitting uplink control information via the PUCCHof the PCell constituting a primary PUCCH cell group.

the UE 902 is further configured to restart a deactivation timerassociated with the first SCell carrying the PUCCH, in a case where adeactivation timer is restarted or a channel quality indicator report istransmitted in any second SCell in the secondary PUCCH cell group;

or, the UE 902 is further configured to configure the first SCellcarrying a PUCCH as not operating a deactivation timer, or configure avalue of a deactivation timer of the first SCell as being greater than avalue of a deactivation timer of the second SCell;

or, the UE 902 is further configured to configure the secondary PUCCHcell group with a secondary cell group deactivation timer; and restartthe secondary cell group deactivation timer in a case where any SCell ofthe secondary PUCCH cell group satisfies a timer restart condition.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer readableprogram code, which, when executed in a UE, will cause a computer unitto carry out the deactivation apparatus for an SCell described inEmbodiment 1, or 3, or 5, in the UE.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer readablemedium, including a computer readable program code, which will cause acomputer unit to carry out the deactivation apparatus for an SCelldescribed in Embodiment 1, or 3, or 5, in a UE.

The above apparatuses and methods of the present disclosure may beimplemented by hardware, or by hardware in combination with software.The present disclosure relates to such a computer-readable program thatwhen the program is executed by a logic device, the logic device isenabled to carry out the apparatus or components as described above, orto carry out the methods or steps as described above. The presentdisclosure also relates to a storage medium for storing the aboveprogram, such as a hard disk, a floppy disk, a CD, a DVD, and a flashmemory, etc.

One or more functional blocks and/or one or more combinations of thefunctional blocks in the drawings may be realized as a universalprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) orother programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logicdevices, discrete hardware component or any appropriate combinationsthereof. And they may also be realized as a combination of computingequipment, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multipleprocessors, one or more microprocessors in communication combinationwith a DSP, or any other such configuration.

The present disclosure is described above with reference to particularembodiments. However, it should be understood by those skilled in theart that such a description is illustrative only, and not intended tolimit the protection scope of the present disclosure. Various variantsand modifications may be made by those skilled in the art according tothe principle of the present disclosure, and such variants andmodifications fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A deactivation apparatus for a secondary cell(SCell), configured in a user equipment (UE), the UE being configuredwith a first SCell carrying a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)and at least one second SCell carrying no PUCCH wherein the deactivationapparatus comprises: a memory that stores a plurality of instructions;and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute theinstructions to: configure the first SCell carrying a PUCCH to beactivated and deactivated by an activation/deactivation media accesscontrol (MAC) control element (CE), wherein the first SCell carryingPUCCH transmits uplink control information (UCI) for the first SCell andthe at least one second SCell; and the first SCell carrying the PUCCH isnot configured with a deactivation timer, wherein an activation state ofthe first SCell is controlled via the MAC CE to ensure the activationstate of the first SCell is synchronized with the UE and a network sideand the UCI for the first SCell and the at least one second SCell isreceived at the network side.
 2. A communications system comprising: aUE configured with a PCell carrying a physical uplink control channel(PUCCH) and a first SCell carrying a PUCCH and at least one second SCellcarrying no PUCCH, wherein uplink control information (UCI) for the atleast one second SCell carrying no PUCCH is transmitted by at least oneof the PCell and the first SCell wherein the UE comprises: a memory thatstores a plurality of instructions; and a processor coupled to thememory and configured to execute the instructions to: configure thefirst SCell carrying a PUCCH to be activated and deactivated by anactivation/deactivation media access control (MAC) control element (CE);and the first SCell carrying the PUCCH is not configured with adeactivation timer, wherein an activation state of the first SCell iscontrolled via the MAC CE to ensure the activation state of the firstSCell is synchronized with the UE and a network side and the UCI for thefirst SCell and the at least one second SCell is received at a networkside.
 3. A User Equipment (UE) configured with a PCell carrying aphysical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a first SCell carrying a PUCCHand a plurality of second SCells carrying no PUCCH, the UE comprising: amemory that stores a plurality of instructions; and a processor coupledto the memory and configured to execute the instructions to: configurethe first SCell carrying a PUCCH to be activated and deactivated by anactivation/deactivation media access control (MAC) control element (CE),wherein when activated the first SCell transmits its own uplink controlinformation (UCI) and at least one of the first SCell the PCell transmitUCI for the plurality of second SCells carrying no PUCCH; and the firstSCell carrying PUCCH is not configured with a deactivation timer whereinan activation state of the first SCell is controlled via the MAC CE toensure the activation state of the first SCell is synchronized with theUE and a network side the UCI for the first SCell and the plurality ofsecond SCells is received at a network side.